Private David Robinson
Pvt. David Robinson
Private David Robinson was born c.1844 in Franklin County, Virginia. He enlisted at age 19 with the USCT on October 5, 1863, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He had been working as a waiter in the city and described himself as free, never enslaved. Military records describe him as 5’4” tall with a dark complexion. Later his wife, Mary Robinson, had this to say about his early life before they were married:
“I really can’t say where he said he was born, but I think in Virginia. I cannot say what place. He always said he was freeborn and never a slave. Don’t remember the names of his people. He left home very young, he said, and lost track of his people. Said he had brothers and sisters but never knew what became of them.”
Pvt David Robinson was a soldier with the 8th United States Colored Infantry, Company E. The regiment was organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and moved to New York, then by ship to Hilton Head, South Carolina, after weathering a severe storm causing the ship to be put in at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Once they made it to Hilton Head, the regiment continued by sea to Jacksonville, Florida. Battles and skirmishes in Florida took a significant toll on the regiment. His widow Mary recalled: “He talked a great deal about his army life and about having been in a battle in Florida where his colonel was killed, and I heard him often talk about men with him in army.”
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From Florida, Robinson’s regiment was moved to Virginia in 1864, reporting for duty with General Butler’s forces. Pvt Robinson recalled that his regiment participated in the Appomattox Campaign and the fall of Petersburg. The Department of the Interior, Civil War Division, documented that the regiment was among the first to enter the city and plant its colors on the enemy’s works, on April 3.
The 8th USCT was at Appomattox at the surrender of General Robert E. Lee, then sent to the Gulf, and finally mustered out at Brownsville, TX, in November 1865. Soldiers were discharged at Philadelphia in December 1865, where they originally enlisted. This regiment is said to have lost more officers and men in battle than any other USCT regiment. In his pension file, Paul describes being sick but he was lucky to survive: “While I had quite a number of sick spells while in Co. E, 8th PA Infantry, the doctor of the regiment gave me medicine, and I did not leave the Company to go to the hospital for treatment.”
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After the war, Pvt Robinson found work in Pittsburg for a couple of months before spending several years “steam boating” on the Ohio River. He settled down in Louisville, Kentucky, in about 1880, and married Martha Gathers. The couple lived at 914 Marshall Street in Louisville. They had no children and Martha died in 1894. Robinson married Mary Smith on June 4, 1908. Mary describes David as, “a man of medium size, about five feet six and was a yellow man, pretty bright. He had straight hair, mingled grey from the time I knew him. Eyes were dark [...] I met him at prayer meeting. He was always a mighty church man. He was always an honest and truthful man, too much so for his own good. I mean by that he waited too long about this pension because he thought a soldier had to be totally past all work for a pension, that is before he should get a pension.”
David Robinson first applied for a disability pension in 1917 but was asked to show proof of his military service 50 years prior. He did not possess any paperwork and was no longer in contact with anyone who could vouch for him. Mary explained this in her deposition, “No, he had no papers showing his service. He always said that his discharge papers got burned up on some boat he worked on which caught fire and burned. He worked on boats for years. Was sort of crippled in one leg, mashed on steamboat he said.”
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In attempt to verify his service, the Army gave him a list of men he could try to contact and bring to Louisville to provide depositions. He didn’t have the resources to do that, but he was able to recall accurate details of his regiment’s service during the Civil War, corroborated by the Department of the Interior. The special examiner suggested that he might have otherwise learned about these events, even though he did not read or write. Friends James Owens, Frank Smith, and John Lilly testified to David Robinson’s character. As late as the month before his death, David was still attempting to secure a pension to help pay his bills. He died at home on Feb 17, 1919, of endocarditis and chronic nephritis. He was 74. He was buried at Eastern Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.
A few months after his death, David’s wife Mary began the effort anew to prove her husband was who he said he was, that he deserved his pension, and that she, now as his widow, was in need after spending the last two years caring for him. Mary was 43 and worked as a laundress. She could read and write and had no children. At this point, the special examiner assigned to his case wrote this supportive, though markedly racist, statement to his superiors:
“I also made some inquiries as to his standing and character and found that he has always been known as an unusually reliable negro. He manifestly had white blood in his veins in the opinion of people who knew him, and for many years here conducted himself as an honest and good citizen. According to judgement of former employers and associates he was clearly just the character of man who would have deferred making claim for pension for reasons he gave his last wife.”
Finally, in April of 1917, Mary was awarded a widow’s pension of $23 per month, which was raised to $40 per month in June 1918. She received this hard-fought pension until she died on February 17, 1919.
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Contributors: Riley Peloquin, Sarah Plummer, John Wood, Brenda Harris and Cathie Cummins